Among sockets for making contact with an electronic component such as an IC and a circuit board, there is a type which includes a contact to resiliently contact an electrical contact of the electronic component. There is known, for example, a contact in which an upper contact pin and a lower contact pin are movably accommodated in a tubular main body, and a coil spring is arranged between the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin. In order to manufacture the contact, first, the upper contact pin, the lower contact pin and the coil spring are inserted in the main body. Subsequently, in order to prevent the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin from falling off, both ends of the tubular main body are deformed to be slimmer. Such a process requires additional steps and leads to the high cost of manufacturing.
Japanese Patent Publication JP 2008-516398A illustrates a contact for an electronic device, the contact including an upper contact pin, a lower contact pin and a spring. The upper contact pin and the lower contact pin are manufactured by processing a thin plate, and have the same shape as each other. Each of the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin includes a hook extending in a bifurcated manner. The upper contact pin and the lower contact pin are orthogonal to each other, so that the bifurcated hook of each pinches the mating contact pin to couple with each other. The spring is arranged to surround a potion where the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin couple with each other, and gives a force in a direction in which the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin move away from each other. When a force is applied from both ends of the contacts, the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin move away from each other while elastically deforming the spring.
Shapes of the bifurcated hooks in the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin of Japanese Patent Publication JP 2008-516398A are made by stamping a thin plate. In other words, surfaces of the hooks for pinching the mating contact pin are sheared surfaces formed by the stamping, that is, they are rough surfaces. Accordingly, the reliability of making contact with the mating contact pin is diminished.